Global careers: Flexible employers and affordable technology help ease stress of living apart

Sandeep Kataria's is a two-country family. The chief marketing officer of Yum Restaurants India lives in Gurgaon. Anuranjita Kumar, his wife, head (HR), corporate & investment bank (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Citigroup, lives in London. And their two children shuttle between the two places.

It happened last year. Kataria, an IIT-XLRI graduate and a Unilever employee since the 1990s, got an exciting offer he could not resist — to head marketing for Yum Restaurants in India. "The business environment in Europe isn't exactly exciting. India is where the action is," he says.

His wife, had then just moved into a big role at Citibank and she wasn't ready to shift. So she stayed back. But distance hasn't ruptured family ties, thanks to Skype, Vonage, iPad and their frequent travel. Kumar is in India almost every third weekend — at times combining office trip with personal. Summer and winter breaks are the big family time when they are together, mostly in London. "Citi has been very accommodating. They let me travel, have extended weekends. Work today is so much virtual — where I am is anyway not that important," she says.

Kataria-Kumar are a growing breed in India. High-flying Indian couples, chasing global careers, are opting to live in two countries, maintain two homes and straddle two worlds as they try to balance career moves and personal lives. "The biggest change is that both careers [husband's as well as wife's] have become important. This was not so in the past," says Sanjiv Sachar, partner, Egon Zehnder International, an executive search firm. Hence, in a career span where job switch and country hopping is rising, managing every career move in sync with one's spouse is not always easy.

Over the past decade, more and more Indian couples have become comfortable with the idea of two-city living as women entered the workforce and nurtured serious career ambitions. Many of them have expectedly risen up the corporate hierarchy. They are now chasing corner-room dreams in a globalising corporate world. Two-country living is a natural progression.

As a trend, this isn't exactly new. Rich couples have always shuttled between cities, countries and homes balancing their complex lives and work. Just that an elitist trend is now going mainstream with more white-collar executives joining in. The roster is long: Madhavi Puri Buch of ICICI Securities till recently lived in India, her husband in Singapore. Ganesh Shermon, partner at consultant KPMG India, maintains a home in Mumbai. His wife lives with their son in Canada. Shaily Gupta, HR head at Edelweiss, a broking company, lives in Mumbai while her husband and daughter live in Singapore.

The Jet-Setting Life

What stands out about these families is that most of them are part of senior management team. Often they are country heads of a business vertical or the company at large or have a bigger global role. They have reached a stage in their career where moving country is often the only way to seek new challenges. Since both spouses are in critical senior roles, it is not always easy to move in sync with their partners.

It helps that they earn well, enough to maintain two homes without really thinking about it. Says Gupta: "You are not financially stressed. With 20 years of experience you are not that worried about day-to-day living." Being part of senior management means they have to travel frequently. And thus are often able to work around their travel itinerary in a way which fits with the requirements of a two-country family. Ask Kataria. He travels overseas once every month. He often plans his trip via London to spend some time with his wife. Ditto for his wife who combines her work and personal time when she visits India every three weeks.

Technology Helps

Technology has been a big enabler, especially when it comes to daily interaction with family. Kumar, while living in London, isn't really that far away. She often times her lunch break to coincide with the time her children return from school and she has a leisurely chat with them. Thanks to Skype, she is updated on their studies, friends and home. And if long chat is not possible, then a shorter "hi" is possible, courtesy her iPhone. She even gives directions, over the phone, to the cook.

Ganesh's wife Kavita closely monitors his food and wardrobe from Canada despite the time difference. While Ganesh is travelling with back-to-back meetings, she regularly Skypes with the caretaker and the cook to keep the kitchen organised and monitors the daily chores.

It helps that today there are cheap options to stay connected. Vonage allows for international calls at low rates. Skype allows video calling. Technologies like Whatsapp bridge geographical distances with instant messaging. But all this is possible because employers and bosses are willing and flexible too.